Page 28 of Cipriani's Innocent Captive
‘Forget that I’ve received a marriage proposal?’ Lucas drawled, strolling over to the sofa and sitting down, body angled towards her. ‘It’s the first I ever have...’
‘It wasn’t a marriage proposal,’ Katy muttered, eyeing him with a glower, her cheeks tinged with heated colour.
‘Sure about that? Because I distinctly heard the words “marry me”.’
‘It wasn’t arealmarriage proposal,’ Katy clarified, hot all over. ‘It just seemed that...if Duncan does what he’s threatening to do—and I guess he will, if he’s already started dropping hints to your client—then it’s not just that your deal will be jeopardised—’
‘Ruined,’ Lucas elaborated for good measure. ‘Shot down in flames...dead in the water and beyond salvation...’
‘All those things,’ Katy mumbled, guilt washing over her with tidal force. She breathed in deeply and looked him directly in the eyes. ‘It’s not even a marriage proposal,’ she qualified. ‘It’s anengagementproposal. If we’re engaged then Duncan can’t spread any rumours about sordid trysts and he can’t take your reputation away from you by implying that you’re the sort of womaniser who’s happy to take advantage of...of...an inexperienced young girl...’
He wasn’t saying anything and she wished he would. In fact, she couldn’t even read what he was thinking because his expression was so shuttered.
‘Your deal can go ahead,’ she plunged on. ‘And you won’t have to worry about people gossiping about you behind your back.’
‘That sort of thing has never bothered me.’
Katy almost smiled, because that was justsuchapredictable response, then she thought about people gossiping about him and her heart clenched.
‘What’s in it for you?’ Lucas asked softly.
‘Firstly,’ Katy told him with absolute honesty, ‘You’re here because of me, so this is pretty much my fault. Secondly, I know how much this deal means to you. Thirdly, it’s not just about you. It’s also about me.My parents would be devastated and I can’t bear the thought of that. Andyoumight not care about what other people think of you, butIcare what other people think of me. I wouldn’t be able to stay on at either of my jobs because of the shame, and I would find it really hard to face people at home who have known me all my life.’
It was slowly dawning on her that there had been something in his softly spoken words when he had asked her what would be in it for her, something she hadn’t registered immediately but which she was registering fast enough now.
‘It would work.’ She tilted her chin at a defiant angle to rebut the hidden insinuation she had read behind his words. She might have been wrong in her interpretation but she didn’t think so. ‘And it would work brilliantly because there’s no emotional bond between us. I mean, there’s no danger that I would get it into my head that I was doing anything but role-playing. You could get your deal done, we could defuse a potential disaster and I would be able to live with myself.’
‘You’re presenting me with a business proposition, Katy?’ He dealt her a slashing smile that threatened to knock her sideways. ‘You, the ultimate romantic, are presenting me with a business proposition that involves a phoney engagement?’
‘It makes sense,’ she defended.
‘So it does,’ Lucas murmured. ‘And tell me, how long is this phoney engagement supposed to last?’ He couldn’t help but be amused by this from the girl who typified everything that smacked of flowers, chocolates, soul mates and walks up the aisle in a frothy, meringue wedding dress. Then he sobered up as he was struck by another, less amusing thought.
Had he changed her into something she was never meant to be? He had shown Katy the marvels of sex without strings because it was something that worked for him, but had he, in the process, somehowchangedher? For reasons he couldn’t explain, he didn’t like the thought of that, but he pushed those uneasy reservations to one side, choosing instead to go for the straightforward explanation she had given, which was that it was a solution that would work for her as well as it would work for him.
Katy shrugged. ‘You still haven’t said whether you think it’s a good idea or not.’
‘I couldn’t have come up with something better myself.’ Lucas grinned, then looked at her seriously. ‘But you should know that I wouldn’t ask you to do anything you feel uncomfortable about.’
Katy’s heart did that weird, clenching thing again. ‘I feel very comfortable about this and, as for how long it would last, I haven’t given much thought to that side of things.’
‘You’d be deceiving your parents,’ Lucas pointed out bluntly.
‘I realise that.’ She sighed and fiddled with the ends of her long hair, frowning slightly. ‘I never thought that the ends justified the means, and I hate the thought of deception, but, between the devil and the deep blue sea, this seems the less hurtful option.’
Lucas looked at her long and hard. ‘So we’re a loved-up couple,’ he murmured, his dark eyes veiled. ‘And in fact, so irresistibly in love with one another that we escaped for some heady time to my yacht where we could be together free from interruption from the outside world. Your colleagues at work might find it a little hard to swallow.’
‘You’d be shocked at how many people believe in love at first sight.’ Katy smiled. ‘You know, just becauseyou’resuch a miserable cynic when it comes to love, doesn’t mean that the rest of us are as well...’
‘So now I’m a miserable cynic,’ Lucas drawled, reaching out to tug her towards him. ‘Tell me how likely it is that you would fall head over heels for a miserable cynic?’
‘Not likely at all!’ Katy laughed, looking up at him, and her heart did that funny thing again, skipping a beat, which made her feel as though she’d been cruising along quite nicely only to hit a sudden patch of violent turbulence. ‘I’m afraid what you have is a girl who could only fall head over heels for someone as romantic as she is!’ She frowned and tried to visualise this special person but the only face to fill her head was Lucas’s dark and devastatingly handsome one.
‘If we’re going to be engaged, then we need to get to know one another a whole lot better,’ Lucas told her, still admiring the very practical streak which had led her to propose this very practical solution. Although, why should he be that surprised? She was a whizz at IT and that, surely, indicated a practical side to her that she herself was probably not even aware of.
He stood up, his fingers still linked with hers, and led her back through the villa and in the direction of his bedroom.
‘What are you going to do with me once the engagement is over?’ he murmured, toeing open his bedroom door, and then propelling her backwards to his bed while she tried to contain her laughter. ‘I mean...’ he lowered his head and kissed her, flicking his tongue into her mouth and igniting a series of fireworks inside her ‘... I’m assuming that, since you are the one with the clever plan to stage a fake engagement, you’ll likewise be the one with the clever plan when it comes to wriggling out of it. So how will you dispose of me?’
